Ask the Ants

I regularly trade email with friends who are either atheists or political conservatives. Invariably, the topic of religion comes up, often within the context of the supposedly negative influence it has had over the span of human history. Of course this supposed negative influence spans all religions for the atheists, and any other religion but that of the speaker for the political conservatives.

I often point out that the major genocides of human history--the Holocaust, Pol Pot in Cambodia, Rwanda, and the current conflict in Iraq (between the Sunnis and Shiites)--have had little to do with religion, and almost everything to do with ethnic/tribal hatred. Religion merely becomes a tool used to justify more deep-seated feelings rooted in tribalism. From a big-picture perspective, it’s little different from two ant colonies being placed in sudden unfamiliar proximity. We humans just have more complex and higher-brained rationalizations for our actions. As I point out to these email buddies, the warring factions of the Middle East were at one another’s throats long before Mohammed ever entered that cave in the mountains. In fact, for quite some time, Islam brought a period of relative order and peace to these factions.

Such tribalistic tendencies are hard-wired into us, and particularly manifest themselves when people feel threatened. I honestly think that 9/11 played a major role in hyper-polarizing America along religious and party lines. When feeling threatened, we’re programmed to bond with those we perceive as like-minded, in the same way that fish form schools in the face of a predator. A recent San Francisco Chronicle article detailed how Sunnis and Shiites have increasingly segregated into discrete neighborhoods--something that never existed before we destabilized their country.

But such tribalistic bonding is increasingly antithetical to life in the modern era. We’re all in this together. Yet, with the extremely slow pace of human evolution, we often can’t see that fact. Or perhaps we see it intellectually, but not in our hearts. Whether it’s global warming, nuclear weapons, biological weapons, or AIDS, what affects one group now affects them all. But when threatened or scared, we ceaselessly fall into the same hard-wired trap of wanting to “stick with our homies”--whether that means Republicans, Democrats, Muslims, Christians, gun owners, progressives, Shiites, Sunnis, progressives, Greens, or what have you. In the animal kingdom, such tribal associations are much more clearly and simply defined--mainly by species and geography. But with the greater complexity of the human pre-frontal cortex, such associations become an ever-evolving, ever-shifting sand.

And most modern day religions do little to alleviate this crisis of perspective. They’re as mired in exclusivity and tribalistic bonding as any other group. Each purports to be the true path, while damning anyone on the outside of the tribe to eternal hell fire. It’s no small wonder that “Jedi” is now an officially reported religion on the U.K. census. It’s as if such movies as “The Golden Compass,” “Star Wars,” and “The Matrix” are offering more meaningful and fulfilling spiritual mythologies than actual organized religions.

I’ve been particularly intrigued by the recent popularity of “The Golden Compass” and “Narnia.” Each presents a prophesized young person entering into a winter world of talking animals, a wicked and dissembling “ice queen,” and warring tribes battling for the salvation of the “special world.” But the sad thing to me is that, in one saga, traditional religion is presented as the force of ultimate good, and in the other, it’s presented as the force of ultimate evil. When viewed side-by-side, each mythology falls into the same trap of purporting to offer ultimate truth, while demonizing any “non-believers” of that truth. I personally tend to prefer the less dogmatic and “spiritual” message of Compass. But it still saddens me to see both movies polarizing real-world factions against one another, with each determined to denounce the other film as heresy.

Ironically, modern science has increasingly demonstrated how erroneous any sense of ethnic or religious exclusivity really is. Data from the Human Genome Project has demonstrated how little we actually differ from one another, and has shown that diverse ethnicities are often more closely related than anyone could have imagined. Meanwhile, modern brain imaging has shown the commonality of transcendent states achieved by devotees of diverse religions and faiths.

We need to somehow see beyond the visceral hard-wired reactions of our more primitive past--viewing them in the same way that we would a reflexive pulling away from a hot object. It may or may not present a real danger. And what feels hot at first-touch, could actually prove to be cold. When such reflexive animosities overtake us, either individually or collectively, we need to see them for what they are--an instinct, which once served a vital role in our survival, but which now threatens that very survival. It’s time to let go of our biological past, and start thinking with our higher-brains…and with our hearts.